Cotton gin



' 1929- J. E. MITCHELL ET AL COTTON GIN Filed Jan. 1928 JOHN E. M/ TGIF/5L L,

0A V/L L E M/ rev/.644,

flrroR/mm Patented Nov. 5, 1929 warren ears er eerie-a COTTON GIN Application filed January 3, 1928. r serial No. 244,075.

The general object of this invention is to provide improved means operating within the roll-box of a cotton gin for efliciently ginning the cotton and at the same time pre- 5 venting the occurrence of certain objectionable conditions incident to the operationv of gins as at present constructed.

The invention is characterized, essentially, by the provision of stationary ginning ribs having upper ends terminating within the roll-box in close proximity to the surface of a roller, whereby the presence of stationary obstructing means within the roll-box, incident to the construction of standard cotton gins as now used, is avoided,"and the resultant clogging of cotton in the spaces between the ginning ribs at the'upper ends thereof, prevented. In addition to preventing clogging withinthe roll-box,'our improvement enables the ginning of the cotton to be effected with greater facility and more expeditiously than obtains with standard cotton gins as now manufactured, particularly in the respect of maintaining the ginning roll, that is, the roll of seed cotton which is caused to be rotated in the roll-box by the operation of the gin saws, in an ideal condition for action thereupon by the gin saws.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a huller breast gin having our improved ginning mechanism applied thereto; and

'Figure 2 is a broken view in elevation looking at the front face of the ginning ribs and the co-operating roller as viewed from-the interiorof the roll-box.

Before describing our invention in detail, it is thought desirable to point out certain 40 objections incident to the-standard construction of cotton gin now in use in order that the purposes and advantages of our invention may be better understood.

In the standard-modern cotton gin, stationary ginning ribs are employed and secured at each end, the lower ends of the ribs being secured to a supporting member beneath the saw cylinder, and the ribs extending up through the spaces between the ginning saws and being secured to a supporting member above the saw cylinder, so that the upper portions of the ribs form a part of the housing, or roll-box, for the roll of cotton known as the ginning roll.

Several difliculties are presented in the operation of such gins, especially when ginninggre'en cotton, or cotton that is more or less damp. A. main difliculty is due to the fact that the spaces betweenthe stationary ribs, extending above the gin saws, being closed by the support at the ends of the ribs, are easily cloggedby theiaction of the ginv ning rolli-wiping'in. an upward direction against the ribs, causing lint, trash, and immatureseeds to wedge in the spaces between the ribs. The clogging usually first takes place at the upper part of the spaces adjacent to the support to which theribsare secured. But after these spaces begin to fill at such points, theaccumulation then rapidlyv increases, until the entire space allthe way down to the ginsaws is clogged. This results in the saws gumming up, which destroys their eflectiveness for ginning, and in addition, the excessive friction caused by the rapidly revolving saws in the clogged spaces often results in fire.

'To lessen the tendency for this clogging action, it is the present practice to have the ribs slightly tapered fromthe saw teeth up to where the ribs are secured to the support; that is, the spaces between the ribs are made to gradually widen from the saw teeth or ginning point up to the support for the ribs These spaces, however, are of such length as '85 to necessitate having them very narrow at the saw teeth in order that they may be appre ciably wider at their upper ends, and at the same time, not be wide enough to permit the seeds to pass through the spaces at their upper ends. This necessity for widening the spaces between the ribs from the saws up wardly, and at the same time making them narrow enough to prevent the passage of seeds at the widest points of the spaces requires that the spaces be extremely narrow at the ginning point where the teeth of the saws carry the lint through. In fact, the saws must be perfectly true to avoid rubbing against the sides of the ribs, and the necessity gin saws which pass into and through the lower part of the ginning roll. It has been found that when the ginning roll-is tightor.

-; compact enough to meet the requirements as to ginning capacity, it creates considerable unnecessary friction against the stationary circular housing members which confine the roll of cotton, and since the ginning roll under such conditions is practically of uniform density, it not only produces objectionable friction against the housing confining it, but it is too tight at the region of the seed gate for the proper discharge of the seed and also for the free intake of cotton from the breast of the gin.

While numerous attemptshave been made to overcome the above major difiiculties, such attempts, for causesnot necessary to enumerate, have not proven practicable or commercially successful, and the above mentioned objections still characterize the construction and operation of the modern standard cotton m.

b According toour invention, We eliminate the clogging of cotton by dispensing entirely with a support for the upper ends of the ginning ribs withinthe roll-box and having the spaces between the ribs open at their upper ends; and we avoid the objection incident to the rotation of a compact roll of cotton within the roll-box by providing a roller co-operating with the ends of the ginning ribs and so positioned as to offer resistance to the movement of the cotton by the gin saws, whereby the lower portion of the roll of cotton will tend to be compressed, as it were, between the ginning saws and the roller so that the necessary resistance will be offered at the ginning point while the remaining portion of the ginning roll maybe relatively loose;

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 1 indicates the shaft of a saw cylinder on which is mounted in spaced relation a series of ginning saws 2 from which the lint is dotted by means of a doffing roller 3, A. mote board 4 is located below the d'ofiing roller. These parts are of the usual construction. The numeral 5 indicates one of our improved ginning ribs, a'plurality of said ribs extending throughout the length of the saw cylinder and each of'which extends through the space between two adjacent gin saws. The ribs are secured'attheir lower end'stoasupportfi and have their upper ends terminating within the roll-box 7 a comparatively short distance above the teeth of the gin saws 2 and in proximity to the surface of a smooth roller 8 extending the full length of the roll-box and adapted to be rotated in the same direction as the gin saws. The roller 8 ispreferably positively driven at a desired rate of speed, governed by the rapidity of rotation of the ginning roll. which, in any given case, it is found desirable to maintain.

The spaces 9 (Fig. 2) between the ribs 5 exposed to the roll-box from the teeth of the ginsawsto the roller 8 are extremely short, and since the upper ends of these spaces are not obstructed by any stationary supporting member, but are wide open and are kept clear by the moving roller, there is no tendency for the cotton or other substance to clog within these spaces, and since the short length of the spacesmakes it unnecessary to widen them from the teeth up to the roller, they can be made wider at the ginning point, or the point through which the saws carry the cotton from the roll-box, as clearly shown by Fig. 2. In I other words, the spaces 9 may be of uniform Width throughout. These spaces, therefore, may be of suflicient width to avoid breaking or machining the staple as it is carried through the ribs bythe gin saws. Each of the ribs 5 issupported throughout its length above the support 6 by means of a supporting rib 10 which, from the support 6 up to near the roller 8, has the same contour as the rib 5 but is considerably narrower in width. From the upper end of each of the ribs 5, its supporting rib 10 continues around the bot tom of the roller and concentric therewith, as shown at 10, and is secured at its upper end to a supporting member 11, which may be mounted at any convenient point outside of the roll-box, or external of the housing which confines the ginning roll. That portion of each supporting rib 10 extending from the support 11 around to the ginning rib is narrower than the ginning surface of said rib. In other words, the spaces between the supportslO passing around and beneath the roller 8 are of greater width than the spaces between the ginning surfaces of the ribs 5, which latter must be of such width as to confine seed to the roll-box, while the outside spaces betweenthe supports 10 have no function to perform, and are merely determined by the thickness of said supporting portions.

While we have'referred to the ribs 5 and supports 10 as separate members, preferably they will be formed as an integral structure, each ginningrib having the form of a flat strip of metal curved to the proper shape, as

shown in'the drawing, and having secured on its underside a supporting rib 10 of less width than the strip of metal constituting the ginnin rib; In other words, the integral rib andsupport are T-shaped in cross-section.

The numeral 12 indicates an angle bar the lower edge of which is in such proximity to the periphery of the roller 8 as to prevent lint or partially ginned seed from being withdrawn from the ginning roll. The roller 8 has only that portion of its surface exposed to the ginning roll at one time which extends from the ends of the ginning ribs 5 to the bar 12.

The roller 8 extends into the roll-box far enough to cause a slight wedging effect upon the lower portion of the ginning roll against the teeth of the saws at the ginning point, which makes possible having the ginning roll tighter or more firm at or near the ginning point than at any other point within the roll box. In other words, the ginning roll can be tight enough at the ginning point and at the same time be comparatively loose at all other points, thus not only preventing excessive friction against the housing which confines the ginning roll, but permitting the roll to be loose enough at or near the seed gate 13 so as not to interfere with the proper discharge of seed, or with the entrance of the cotton from the huller breast into the roll-box. Aside from exerting the greatest pressure or resistance to the gin saws at the ginning point within the roll-box and thus overcoming undesirable friction and tightness of the ginning roll at other points, the roller 8, where it is positively driven, and at the proper speed, also serves to exert a positive lifting action on the ginning roll, and thus compensates for what little friction there is created against the walls of the rollbox, thus overcoming any tendency for the ginning roll to break, as frequently occurs, as a result of unevenness in the feeding or other supply of cotton.

Finally, another very important function of the roller 8, which hasbeen previously alluded to, is to wipe and immediately carry away from the upper ends of the ginning ribs 5 within the roll-box, all of the cotton, partially ginned seeds, etc., forced against itby the gin saws and the rotation of the ginning roll, thus keeping the spaces between the stationary ginning ribs at the ginning points free and clear at all times, which not only' increases the output of the gin, but overcomes danger of fires, often started, as stated, from the clogging of the spaces between the stationary ribs.

We have shown out invention as mounted in a huller breast type of gin and we have shown mounted in the breast of this gin improved means for cleaning the cotton fed into the breast of the gin, which means, however, form the subject matter of a pending application for patent which we have filed. They may be stated to consist, briefly, of a cleaning roller 14, hulling ribs 15 having upper free ends terminating below the seed gate 13, a feed roller 16, and a hull roller 17. The

ribs 15 are secured at their lower ends on a' support 18 which, in oursaid application, we have shown to be pivotally mounted so as to adjust the upper ends ofthe ribs 15 toward or from the cleaning roller 14. The numeral 19 indicates a gate or door mounted in the front wall of the breast of the gin which may be opened to give access to the cleaning mechanism mounted in said breast. Preferably at the upper end of this gate, there is located a breaker 20 which co-operates with the roller 16 in breaking .up bolls which may be fed into the breast of the gin.

We claim: 7 h p 1. In combination witha gin affording a roll-box with ginning saws'working therein, a roller mounted above, in proximity to, and

positively driven in the same direction as the ginning saws, with a portion of its movable surface positioned to be in engagement with the ginning roll in the roll-box, and stationary ribs mounted between the ginning saws and defining spaces through which the saws revolve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws in such close proximity to the surface of the roller as toenable the latter to maintain the upperends of said spaces free of accumulated cotton.

2. In combination with a gin affording. a

roll-box with ginning saws working therein, a roller mounted above, in proximity to, and positively driven'in the same direction as the ginning saws, with a portion of its movable surface positioned to be in engagement with the, ginning roll in the roll-box, stationary ribs mounted between the ginning saws and defining spaces through which the saws revolve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws in such close proximity to the surface of the roller, as to enable the latter to maintain the upper ends of said spaces free of accumulated cotton, and means for supporting .the upper ends of said ribs located outside of said roll-box.

3. In combination with a gin affording a roll-box with ginning saws working therein, a roller mounted above, in proximity to, and positively driven in the same direction as the ginning saws, with a portion of its movable surface positioned to be in engagement with the ginning rollin the roll-box, stationary ribs mounted between the ginning saws and defining spaces through which the saws re-- volve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws in such close proximity to the surface of the roller as to enable the latter to maintain the upper ends of said spaces free of accumulated cotton, and a unitary supporting rib for each of said ribs secured in position at its upper end outside of said roll-box.

4:. In combination with a gin affording a roll-box with ginning saws working therein,

a roller mounted above, in proximity to, and positively driven in the same direction as the ginning saws, with a portion of its movable surface positioned to be in engagement with the ginning roll in the rollbox, stationary ribs mounted between the gin-.

ning saws and defining spaces through which the saws revolve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws in such close proximity to the surface of the roller, as'to enable the latter to maintain the upper ends of said spaces free of accumulated cotton, and a unitary supporting rib for each of said ribs of less width than the rib, mounted on the underside thereof and havin an upper end portion extending from the end of the rib under said roller and secured in position at a point outside of said roll-box.

5. In combination with a gin affording a roll-box with ginning saws working therein, a roller mounted above in proximity to, and positively driven in the same direction as the ginning saws with a portion of its movable surface positioned to be in engagement with the ginning roll in the roll-box, and stationary ribs mounted between the ginning saws and defining spaces through which the saws revolve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws in close proximity to the surface of the roller, and thereby positioned to be wiped simultaneously by the ginning roll and said roller. 7

6. In combination with a gin affording a roll-box with spaced ginning saws working therein, stationary ribs mounted between the ginning saws and defining spaces through which the saws revolve, the upper ends of said spaces terminating a short distance above the ginning saws, and a roller mounted above in proximity to and positively driven in the same direction as the gin saws and extending across the upper ends of the ginning surfaces of said ribs, whereby a portion of the upward moving periphery of the roller will co-operate with the ginning roll in the roll-box in wiping or keeping clear the open ends of the spaces between the ginning surfaces of the ribs.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

JOHN E. MITCHELL. ORVILLE MITCHELL. 

